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Topic: Making Bricks (Read 1752 times)

This is not really about pouring a metal into a mold, but making bricks in a jig is sort of shaping material from scratch.

My next diorama will involve a lot of bricks so I wanted to see if they could be made so that corner slip bricks would not be needed - using full sized bricks. A quick YouTube search revealed a method that is working for me.

1. A jig is made with edges cut with kerfs spaced appropriately. One side of the jig is removable.2. DAS is the molding clay material.3 & 4. Loading and flattening the clay.5 Cutting the bricks with a thin blade. The kerfs in the edges of the jig guide the blade.6. A drying brick. The bricks come out with a bit of a crown on them like a loaf of freshly baked bread.7. The brick is drawn over a sheet of course sandpaper to flatten and shape its dimensions. 8. Forgot to show the bricks cut both ways.

Good questions. You are right. DAS is definitely air drying; it can take between 24 to 36 hours to harden properly.

The sanding is done when the bricks are completely dry. I draw them two or three time across the flat face of my 6" x 42" belt sander; flip them over and do the same on the other side. The machine is OFF.

But I do use power with my 1" belt sander to tidy up the edges and ends of the bricks. Wearing a mask is a must. I have not figured out how many bricks I will need yet, so I've put my brain on automatic pilot and make a batch a day.

At first, I thought I would need a releasing agent. But the floor of the form is acrylic plastic. An artist's pallat knife is gently slid under a row of bricks after about three hours. They come away from the plastic nicely. (That's why one side of the jig is removable).

I have a press for making little bricks, they are 42 mm x 18 mm x 12 mm. The clay (real clay from the local brick works)is put in the 42 x 18 steel mould, this has a false bottom attached to a lever to eject the pressed brick. When loaded the top of the mould is closed forming the brick, then opened and the bottom pushed up to eject. The top of the mould is engraved to print out our museums name(the first brick works in Canterbury were owned by, and were on the property that our museum is situated. HOMEBUSH as on the full size bricks. NZ